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1. apostrofobic (ohworm@www.librepunk.club)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 00:50:12 UTC apostrofobic

   does anyone have any experience with graduate student unions? specifically with the process of unionizing

   :boost_ok:

   • Björn Lindström (bkhl@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 12:37:19 UTC Björn Lindström

     in reply to

     @ohworm it's the same organisation for undergraduates and students, and lecturers and researchers tend to stay members too, though the latter also organise in unions for employees, such as a big one that organises academics both in public and private sector.

   • Björn Lindström (bkhl@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 12:37:19 UTC Björn Lindström

     in reply to

     @ohworm I guess I don't have personal experience of the initial organising stage as that happened 150 before I became a student. However, if any lessons are to be learned from it, they might be:

     * Focus on social activities if you want high participation.
     * Lecturers are not bosses and have shared interests, so include them.
     * Since there is no employer to get more compensation from, the focus needs on e.g. housing, social aid, etc. (Maybe fees depending on where you are).

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   • Björn Lindström (bkhl@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 12:37:20 UTC Björn Lindström

     in reply to

     @ohworm in my old university there are a handful of unions where this is the largest one: https://www.uskar.se/eng

     Organisation is high since it's also the main social organisation for students, through the "nations" that make up the union, membership of which are nominally based on which county you are from.

     When I was a student the organisation rate was 100 % since you had to be a member of a student union to register to courses.

   • Björn Lindström (bkhl@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 15:07:37 UTC Björn Lindström

     in reply to

     @ohworm stipends mostly come from independent foundations. The student union publishes a list with hundreds of different ones, where you can see which ones you can apply for.

     Some of the foundations are old and have rules written up by someone in their will a long time ago, so they can be quirky. (like "you have to be a virtuous young woman from X parish without means").

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   • Björn Lindström (bkhl@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 15:07:38 UTC Björn Lindström

     in reply to

     @ohworm https://sv.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fil:V%C3%A4stg%C3%B6ta_nations_grav.jpg

     As an example of "mutual aid", an important activity early on was providing funerals for students lacking means to be shipped back home after their death. Uppsala has these large graves for each nation that was originally used for that.

     Some of them (not this one in the picture) are still used now and then for exchange students that can't be repatriated for some reason.

   • apostrofobic (ohworm@www.librepunk.club)'s status on Friday, 04-Feb-2022 15:07:38 UTC apostrofobic

     in reply to

     • Björn Lindström

     @bkhl @bkhl thank you!

     do you happen to know how stipends are set there? it looks like people apply directly for a PhD spot in a particular lab, so could someone negotiate pay/benefits?

     (Context: one of our big problems at my (US) uni is that stipend amounts are mandated by each department and can be radically different (monthly values between $1400 - $3250). in that sense, we’re looking at the university as an employer and asking for pay parity across depts)